secretary kerry said, this is not rocky iv. all of these steps that we have seen over the past 24 hours escalating the situation certainly adding to the tensions between these two nations. >> absolutely. and that also reflects something the president said earlier, that this is not about a cold war power games but rather stability in the ukraine. seems it may be difficult to maintain that posture here with some escalation. kristen welker, thanks for your reporting. >> thank you, ari. >> we go to p.j. crowley, former secretary of state and now professor at george washington university. p.j., you've served the obama administration. i want to get your take what we're seeing. yesterday president obama makes a clear statement to his russian counterpart about not intervening. today the news is president putin is seeking to place military personnel there. is this, in your mind, a direct response from putin to what the president said yesterday? >> i think, yes, up to a point. obviously ukraine has a vital importance to russia and this h